Poverty Tourism: sustainable holidaying or shameless peep-show?

A South African luxury game reserve has sparked controversy by offering tourists the chance to stay in a fake shanty town. The accommodation boasts wifi and underfloor heating, disguised by the stylish decor of corrugated iron and features such as a long-drop toilet. We explore the growing trend of "poverty tourism" for visitors to Africa and developing countries across the world.

Shabby chic: the private accommodation is designed to resemble a shanty town

A South African game reserve is offering adventurous tourists the chance to experience life in a shack township for the cool price of R850 a night per group of up to four.

The Emoya Luxury Hotel and Spa in Bloemfontein has created a fake slum which claims to be: â€œthe only shanty town in the world equipped with under-floor heating and wireless internet access!” The â€œtown” can host up to 52 people per night, offering not only authentic, corrugated iron roofs and artistically skewed wooden window frames but â€œlong drop-effect toilets”.

“Now you can experience staying in a shanty within the safe environment of a private game reserve!” Emoya’s website claims.

The unusual accommodation has received mixed reviews on the Trip Advisor website, with one visitor referring to the shanty town as â€œa real experience”, whilst others complain that they â€œpaid to sleep in a ‘shack’, but sleeping was impossible!”

The review page also included some sarcastic comments, such as those from contributor ‘Flibbertiegibbet’: â€œMy husband is still trying to shake off the TB infection he caught due to the insanitary and damp conditions and our kids are still blacking out over the psychological trauma and are refusing to leave the house, but at least we have a good story to tell at dinner parties!”

The idea of a shanty town as a novelty holiday destination has sparked debate across several websites and forums, with some web-users branding the idea an insult to real, poverty-stricken townships.

One reader of news website, This is Africa, Heather Laninga commented: â€œShame, shame on Emoya. I hope that 100% of the profits are going to NGOs to help the poor!”

On the same website, Kathy Smedly called the concept â€œtasteless”, adding: â€œDo they not know this is making fun of people who by no choice of their own live like this? If someone wants to pay to stay in a shanty, let them stay in a real one, and then maybe they just might take their money and put it to good use, such as donating to a charity or homeless shelter that could use the dollars to help those less fortunate.”

However one reader using the handle Burning Chrome said: â€œIf someone wants a different vacation experience than staying at a four-star hotel or a “caravan park”, so what?”

The desire to tweet from one’s iron hut and Instagram a photo of the long-drop toilet may seem crude or insensitive, but it is really only one small part of the expanding industry that is â€œpoverty tourism” across South Africa and the rest of the world.

Day tours of Soweto have been available since not long after South Africa’s 1994 elections, and are now one of the country’s top tourist attractions according to local authorities.

Guided walking tours of the Langa township in Cape Town are another popular option for holiday makers, not to mention a whole range of tribal home-stays which are becoming available across the continent.

And it’s not just Africa: tour companies across the world happily take in thousands of dollars a year in exchange for a glimpse into a mud hut or a braai cooked over a landfill.

Discussions such as those found on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Forum suggest that interest in such activties is growing out of a boredom of whitewashed, travel brochure tourism. Travellers, particularly the younger backpacking generation, are increasingly keen to step away from the comfort of the hotel and experience some raw, local culture – the smellier and more dangerous, the better.

One Thorn Tree forum user, gwapo, called the slum tour business â€œbizarre as tourists who flock to orphanages in Cambodia to take photos of the displaced kids leave a $5 donation then continue their vacation, happy in the belief that they have done their part to relieve third world poverty”.

It has been suggested that there is an element of guilt contributing to the increasing popularity of poverty tourism. But perhaps, as with all holiday trends, the knowledge that such experiences are available have only recently been brought to popular attention. The boom in tours of Indian slums after the release of award winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008) confirmed that the modern globetrotter is nothing if not curious about his own species.

While many people remain uncertain of their ethical take on the matter, many agree that the industry might be more readily accepted if used to help combat the poverty experienced through such tours. Several tour companies worldwide give a percentage of their income back to the local community, but for every well-intentioned group there are countless organisations that feed off ‘slum tourism’ without specifying if or how much of their profits go to worthy causes.

Dharavi-based Reality Tours and Travel have a good online reputation and donate 80% of their profits from Indian slum tours to local health funds and charitable organizations.

The company’s website states: â€œOne of the main objectives of our Dharavi tours is to break down the negative attitudes that many people have towards people from less developed communities”. Even so, the company has received its share of negative comments, including one reviewer from the Wall Street Journal comparing the tour to â€œa visit to a zoo”.

The Shanty Town shacks at the Emboya hotel and game reserve have become a talking point because their idea is controversial in a sensitive post-apartheid era. No doubt a similarly rustic hotel will follow its example elsewhere, but if it is at all possible to create the right balance between charity and novelty experience, then both tourist and community might benefit.